In the ever-evolving world of gaming, strategy games have consistently captured the hearts and minds of players around the globe. This article delves into the best strategy games of the past 20 years, showcasing the titles that not only dominated sales charts but also set the standard for gameplay innovation. From classic turn-based tactics to real-time strategy masterpieces, we’ll explore how these games have shaped the genre and captivated audiences. Join us as we highlight the most popular strategy games year by year, uncovering trends, enduring franchises, and the titles that continue to influence new releases in 2024 and beyond.
Of course, as always, this is just my opinion, and I haven’t played all games that have come out in the last two decades, so I’ll only feature titles I know are good and have first-hand experience with.
2004 – Rome: Total War
The mythical year that saw the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2, Pokémon FireRed/ LeafGreen, Halo 2 Need for Speed: Underground 2, The Sims 2, and Gran Turismo 4 also saw an equally impressive catalog of strategy games being released: LOTR: Battle for Middle- Earth, Codename Panzers, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, and Zoo Tycoon 2. While almost every franchise went on to cease to exist a couple of years later, one Creative Assembly took their Total War franchise to the mainstream with Rome: Total War. The revolutionary title brought the series to a new engine and gave players both size, spectacle, and strategic depth that had never been seen before.
2005 – Civilization IV
God of War, Resident Evil 4, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Shadow of the Colossus, Battlefield 2, and Psychonauts are, yet again, just another small fraction of the mainline titles released in 2005, another unforgettable year in gaming history. However, one title stood amongst the best-rated titles of the year: Civilization IV. To me, Civ IV is still the best one in the series, as it was the last title that allowed you to build actual armies, instead of plaguing the maps with dozens of units.
2006 – Company of Heroes
The year when the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and PS3 were released, some fantastic titles were also seen to make them company: The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Gears of War, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. With a 93 Metacritic score, Company of Heroes was the 4th highest-rating game of the year. Released just before the end of the World War 2 craze that infested video games for nearly a decade, Company of Heroes cover system, Hollywoodesque approach to World War 2 warfare, and spectacular multiplayer made it an instant classic that lives on to this very day as one of the best real-time strategy games ever made.
2007 – World In Conflict
After the release of Company of Heroes, things started to wind down quite a bit on PC, with a few noteworthy strategy titles being released at this time. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had just come out and it was dominating the gaming landscape alongside Halo 3, Uncharted, God of War 2, and Assassin’s Creed. There was also the fantastic Opposing Fronts DLC for Company of Heroes, the terrible Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, and the long-forgotten wargame called Theatre of War, a series that when on to release quite several less-than-stellar entries. The saving grace of 2008 was World in Conflict, a Cold War gone hot type of real-time strategy that brought spectacle and scale alongside an amazing campaign that had you fighting all over Europe and defending the continental United States from the Soviet Invasion.
2008 – Sins of a Solar Empire
I refer to 2008 as the year when the Nintendo Wii took over the world: Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, Wii Play, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl sold collectively over 75 million copies. Very little notice came into the strategy gaming scene in 2008, you have Tom Clancy’s End War and Red Alert 3, which were okay games, but only one stood the true test of time: Sins of a Solar Empire, the real-time strategy/ 4X title by Ironclad Games. This was the first time the now iconic factions of the TEC, the Vasari, and the Advent made their way into our real-time strategy Imaginarium and never left. The formula instituted by Sins of a Solar Empire proved so immensely successful, that in 2024 the team released Sins of a Solar Empire 2 to major acclaim.
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